Many people aired grievances about a nonprofit facility that has brought increased crime and other trouble to the middle of a commercial area in Oak Harbor, while others showed support for the work it does helping homeless and low-income residents.

In addition, officials from SPiN Cafe got a chance to explain what the facility has accomplished and dispel some rumors during a town hall meeting on the nonprofit organization Wednesday night.

“The one thing everyone has in common in this room is that they care about this community,” said Valerie Roseberry, case manager at SPiN Café.

Community members crammed into the Oak Harbor First United Methodist Church wall-to-wall, a last-minute location change from City Hall because of the high interest for the city-hosted “public conversation about SPiN Café.”

“How amazing to have so many people who care so deeply about our city and this island that they would show up for a meeting like this,” Roseberry said.

Since the café moved to Barlow Street in October of last year after receiving funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, public complaints have increased, said Executive Director Michele Hines. Because of this, city officials requested the nonprofit take part in a town hall.

More than complaints have risen in the past year. According to Police Chief Tony Slowik, crime has too.

After last year’s move, police have responded to 1,237 calls within a 600-foot radius of SPiN, 52% more than the average of the five previous years. Most of these calls are trespass complaints, warrant arrests and shoplifting.

This has resulted in an overall monthly call increase for the department, Slowik said.

In this same timeframe, police have arrested 100 people in that radius compared to the 33 per year average of the previous five years. Slowik said he believes that the 30-40 daily patrons of SPiN are not committing most of these crimes, but others who take advantage of them in that area.

Based on zoning codes, the nonprofit was very limited to where it could go, Hines said. She met with the city planning department and considered the few options thoroughly.

“You don’t like to see homeless people. I don’t like to see homeless people,” she said. “I would like for them to be housed.”

In the last two years, 350 individuals have sought SPiN services, she said. Since then, 225 have left the program, 24 received trespass admonishments and eight passed away.

Oak Harbor’s homeless population is made up of people with brain injuries, seizure disorders, dementia, invisible intellectual or physical disabilities and addiction problems, Hines said. Some of them are elderly with few resources, some are jail releases who must stay in the area for court appearances and some are simply down on their luck.

Only 20% are transient, she said.

“So many of them have Whidbey ties,” she said. “Their families are here. They grew up here. Their kids are here. They were promised a place to live, and when they got here it fell through.”

Roseberry greets new patrons and serves them food. She finds out what they need, be it addiction assistance, help getting an ID or just a safe place.

“We are an eternal fountain of coffee at Spin Café,” she said.

Some guests are addicted and won’t admit it, she said. Others strive toward recovery.

Roseberry refers them to county housing specialists for the limited housing resources on the island, as well as the Opportunity Council, another nonprofit.

“Not every story is a success, but we do see more of them than folks may realize,” she said.

In the two years she has worked at SPiN, around five times she called in an overdose emergency, she said. Instead of addiction, she pointed to more systemic problems.

“If you, like my family, have ever been on a waitlist while you waited for psychiatric treatment or counseling you might have a sense of this,” she said. “I marvel that if it is that hard for my family with stable income and resources, how much harder it is with limited to no income, limited support, health challenges and more to navigate the system.”

She encourages people to seek support from legislators.

“I’m not perfect. Spin Café isn’t perfect,” she said. “Our patrons are complex. All of us are trying our best to navigate these difficult systems and circumstances and it is a clumsy, bumpy process. I often don’t have answers. Sometimes the best I can do is serve a cup of coffee and let someone know I care.”

Hines said she hears many complaints about buses unloading homeless people from larger communities.

“There are no buses coming from Seattle,” she said. “Zero. Zero buses coming from Seattle.”

An Oak Harbor resident, Jamie Sherwin, told a different story.

“I have fliers from Bellingham, Seattle and Everett for SPiN Café specifically,” she said. “I have video footage of buses pulling up. I have interviews of several people who have come to your SPiN café who told me everything they did when they came in.”

The News-Times could not find this evidence, and advocates, social workers, police and county commissioners have consistently maintained that larger communities have not bused people here.

Hines compared habitual complainers about SPiN as being addicted to social media the way some might be addicted to drugs seeking SPiN services, but Sherwin pointed out there were more than social media complainers in attendance.

“We are tired of it,” she said. “We have had it, and I will continue to work with Washington State’s government to have you shut down and proven wrong for everything that you have done. You call us keyboard warriors? Well, this keyboard warrior has been talking to the officials.”

Community members raised concerns about not feeling safe getting lunch in that area anymore, seeing people urinating, defecating, using drugs and masturbating in public areas.

John Solin, owner of the Oak Harbor Cinema next door to SPiN, said SPiN patrons leave trash and feces in the alley, vandalize and steal.

“It’s not working,” he said. “The funding that they have received, over $600,000 for three years, we’re into it over a year now. We’re having more crime, more problems, more trespass, more damage. It’s got to stop, and it’s got to be a better way to solve this problem. SPiN Café is not doing their job when it comes to serving the businesses in the Barlow Street area.”

One resident, Suzy Quinn, said she has taken matters into her own hands because SPiN services are inadequate. As a volunteer for her church, Queen administered Narcan to a woman overdosing and took her to Lynden.

She said she called SPiN about a man publicly masturbating and didn’t get a call back. Police told her they can’t do anything unless they catch him in the act.

“You do nothing. I took a homeless man to my house, and I actually take care of him and did what all of you claim that you do,” she said. “You do feed them. You do give them the food, but once you sit in your chair after the food is given, you do nothing.”

Members of the audience also showed support for SPiN.

Asiah, who grew up in Oak Harbor, said SPiN could have helped him a lot when he was a kid, and he hopes the nonprofit helps kids in need today. He said he sees Oak Harbor as a place that leads with love, pledging to volunteer.

Tom Bond put it in more pragmatic terms.

“If the SPiN is the problem, then somebody come up with a solution,” he said. “My grandfather told me a long time ago, if you have a problem, either find a solution or don’t have a problem.”

As the moderator took one final comment, a woman approached the microphone from the crowd and introduced herself as Vivian Rogers Decker, the founder of SPiN in 2012. She now works in the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, overseeing the Homeless Student Stability education program.

“It’s up to our community to take care of the people in our community,” she said. “You cannot keep sending your problems to Bellingham, to Skagit, to Everett, to Seattle, to Tacoma to every other big city because they are dealing with their own problems, and they need you to be the answer to your own community.”

People stood and folded their chairs before adjourning, pausing, but not concluding, the conversation.

Over 100 people joined for a town hall about SPiN Cafe and the Oak Harbor homeless population Wednesday evening. (Photo by Sam Fletcher)

John Solin, owner of Oak Harbor Cinemas next door to the SPiN Cafe, waits in line to comment on the nonprofit’s effect on local businesses. (Photo by Sam Fletcher)